The moment when the Minnesota gay-marriage ban was blocked, caught on tape

9:43 pm - 11/09/2012

At 1:45 a.m. local time, the vote on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota was still too close to call. Then, just as Campaign Manager Richard Carlbom prepared to send the staff and volunteers home to get some sleep, they were informed they had successfully defeated an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment for the first time in U.S. history. Luckily for us, a camera was rolling to capture this beautiful moment for the whole world to see. Skip to 2:32 for the best part.

This is so freaking awesome!! Some of my friends were there that night. Probably the most poignant moment for me was the next morning when I saw one of my friends post on fb about how deeply moved she was to have felt so supported throughout the campaign, and happy to know that her friends wanted to vote for equality for her and her partner. I wish I could have been there!!! So proud of my state right now!

It kind of breaks my heart that people are this fucking happy over the failure of a gay marriage ban when that doesn't actually legalize gay marriage. But they did accomplish something literally unprecedented in recorded history, and part of me is that fucking happy right along with them.

I recognize a lot of people from that video. We celebrated the defeat of both amendments at my temple on Wednesday, and it was so emotional. So proud of everyone that put their time into defeating these amendments. Actually really proud of being a Minnesotan.